front wheel drive engines put at the rear

[BillyShope]

When you put a modern front drive engine, trans, and suspension into the rear of an early Beatle, Karmann Ghia, Renault Dauphine, or Fiat, the job is more than decreasing the track to stuff it within the fenders. An often overlooked problem involves the anti-dive that is designed into the front suspensions. In modern front suspensions, the IC (instant center} is located BEHIND the front wheels and up from the ground level. Since the tire patch force acts through the IC, the braking force acts against the tendency of the front end to drop, hence the term, "anti-dive." This is fine for the front of the car, but, when it's placed at the rear, you have a car that squats miserably during forward acceleration. To correct this requires "major surgery," so to speak. If, for instance, wishbones are used to control wheel travel, the inner pivots must be on a line which has an upward slope of center of gravity height over wheelbase to eliminate squat or rise. This might be more than the ball joints can tolerate, which means cutting the arms and welding them to keep the ball joints happy. Hope I didn't dissuade you from the project, for it's an exciting one; essentially a poor man's Porsche 911.

[David Pozzi]

Thanks for posting that info.

[pitts64]

Anybody remember this beast...

http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/in...HHO/Image7.gif

[BillyShope]

Anybody remember this beast...

http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/in...HHO/Image7.gif

No, but I saw a dual engined Cadillac in southern California. A real sleeper!